понеділок, 27 листопада 2017 р.

MFT: Minion Language Translator and Kennyspeak

I have a soft spot for gimmick translator. Some time ago i wrote about Star Wars-themed translators - R2D2 translator and Chewbakka sounds. Now it is time to talk about other gimmick translators.

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Like it or not - Minions are major brand with massive following. It is easy to see why. They are cute even if they look like a fanfic frankenstein mash-up of Lego figure with Spongebob. They have these funny mannerisms and banana episode is sublime. There is nothing new i can say about Minions. This brand is a curious case of completely vacuous and somehow lucrative brand built exclusive on its memetic qualities. And so it is natural that sooner or later such brand will have some bizarre spin-offs.


Minion language translator is a cynical cash-in. It gives you an opportunity to translate some text into fancy Minionese - because it is kinda fun. "Ba tis la til yee agei", apparently (don't forget to do the "delete chop" afterwards). It sounds like a "post-apocalyptic language of some woefully devolved creatures who traveled back in time in order to hang around". It is mainly composed of short and snappy sounds with occasional guttural fills. It makes Minionese language suspiciously similar to Klingon language albeit being completely rubbish. It is perfect for sound poetry in a lettrist vein. All these "tadda buzz buzz batooay doodle mi tee toot yee pudum our hum tit" are fun to do. But nothing else.

The translator is not very though-through though. Beyond initial concept it is extremely limited. It uses dictionary which is narrowed to some very common words and phrases. Sometimes it becomes needless overbearing chore - you have to play a lot with the words in order to get them translated. And even then it is very repetitive and unimaginative. It gets old fast. There are no variations depending on the context. You can't rampage on Buffalo sentence. But If you succeed - you may manage to labor some fancy odd lettrist moo doo-dah ding acephale plum-plum toot-toot. 

Just like that:
one ip ptt ptt sak fat
ka batooay non cono whaaat? 
pik tis pelo ka piklo da ko pik tem amee
bend fino ip ka am miko thru! 
pewgun tu ooo  ka mo ooo

coo leelas. leelas sodre.

yee prompo linda aka. 
loo yee mac tu pad. 
batooay non blink. 
nop tu efsob. 
ka am pata da vowuke 
pak ria pat koop tu coz


***

I don't really care about South Park. Not my cup of tea. But I really dig this particular thing. Kenny McCormick is a cultural icon. His muffled incomprehensible speech (dubbed KennySpeak) is a thing of beauty. It is stupid simple and extremely inspiring. Muffled speech is not really explored in poetry. It is easy to understand why - it is a one trick pony, not much to do. But there are so many possibilities - whether it is remixing of existing texts or creating something new. It can really transcend the text and make it significantly different. Which is always a good thing.

Mffpmp! Kenny Translator is much more sophisticated than Minion language translator. It goes way beyond translating certain words. It uses its own vaguely distinct alphabet which based around transposed english abecederium. That makes it a serviceable cipher tool with a slight tongue-in-cheek feel. With its help you can translate anything into KennySpeak - this gagged, muffled, indiscernible semi-coherent noises for those with hardships of hearing. Because why not? Try to spell it - it is a real challenge. Basically it is anti-scat. It is sound poetry equivalent of lowercase. It obfuscates the text and turns it into warbling tone float.

KennySpeak works best with list songs. It turns them into shamanic dada roundabouts. Chemical terms and german superwords are also fun. You can also try to do dialogues. If done right - it might be hilarious.

Here is how buffalo sentence looks like in KennySpeak - Mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf Mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf Mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf - fun fun fun.

Also until recently Kenny always died - that was his signature schtick. His causes of death must be used in some Twitterbot.

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